Crossband Transponder System and Harmonic Radar System To Track and Monitor Small Animals Over Long Time Scales

该奖项支持进一步开发跟踪小动物以及昆虫和种子等其他类型生物的系统。该系统利用雷达发射器/接收器来触发两种小型设备中的任何一种，这些设备将被用来标记个人。跨频带应答器(CBT)标签由一个小电池和一个微电路组成，该微电路响应触发的雷达信号发送VHF无线电信号。将使用常规定向天线阵列来检测VHF信号，该信号将提供每个单独标签唯一的识别信息。按照计划，CBT标签将重1克，使用至少一年，在距离雷达和天线阵列约2公里的范围内有用。这种大小的标签对体重只有20克的小动物应该很有用。谐波雷达(HR)标签利用相同输入雷达信号的功率，以两倍于输入频率的频率产生输出雷达信号。因为它们不需要电源，所以它们的寿命是无限的。信号强度受输入雷达信号强度的限制，因此，距离由所使用的雷达设备的成本和便携性决定。按照计划，这些标签可以用在重量只有50毫克、射程长达700米的生物体(或物体)上。信号将不允许区分单独的标签。作为该项目的一部分，将首次尝试使用HR标签来监测种子的传播。随着生物遥测技术的发展，研究人员已经能够在从米和小时到数千公里和多年的多个时空尺度上监测单个生物体的运动。这导致了对生物体运动研究的新见解，并已成功地应用于管理和保护目的。根据所需的射程和寿命，现有的生物遥测标签通常需要相对较大的电源。因此，该技术的有用应用仅限于相对较大的生物体，其移动能力不受标签的大小和重量的影响。拟议的系统如果成功，将导致可通过生物遥测监测的生物体类型大幅增加，并增加监测单个动物的时间段，而无需重新捕获动物以应用新标签的努力和费用。

This award supports further development of a system for tracking of small animals and of other types of organisms as small as insects and seeds. The system makes use of a radar transmitter/receiver to trigger either of two types of small devices that will be used to tag individuals. Cross-Band Transponder (CBT) tags consist of a small battery and a microcircuit that sends a VHF radio signal in response to the triggering radar signal. The VHF signal, which will provide identifying information unique to each individual tag, will be detected using an array of conventional directional antennas. As planned, the CBT tags will weigh 1 gram, last for at year and be useful over a range extending to about 2 kilometers from the radar set and antenna array. Tags of this size should be useful with animals weighing as little at 20 grams. Harmonic Radar (HR) tags use the power of the same incoming radar signal to generate a outgoing radar signal at twice the incoming frequency. As they require no power source, their lifetime is unlimited. The signal strength is limited by the strength of the incoming radar signal, and thus the range is dictated by the cost and portability of the radar set to be used. As planned, these tags may be used on organisms (or objects) weighing as little as 50 milligrams, and over a range of up to 700 meters. The signals will not allow individual tags to be differentiated. As part of this project, the use of HR tags to monitor seed dispersal will be tried for the first time.With the development of biotelemetry technology, researchers have been able to monitor movement of individual organisms at multiple spatial and temporal scales ranging from meters and hours to thousands of kilometers and many years. This has led to new insights into the study of organism movement, and has been applied successfully for management and conservation purposes. Depending on the desired range and lifetime, existing biotelemetry tags typically require a relatively heavy power source. Thus, useful application of the technology has been limited to relatively large organisms whose ability to move is not impaired by the size and weight of the tag. The proposed system, if successful, will lead to a substantial increase in the types of organisms that can be monitored through biotelemetry, and an increase in the time period over which individual animals can be monitored without the effort and expense of recapturing the animal to apply a new tag.